Significance Of Guilt In Macbeth

Guilt will always catch the guilty no matter what, even if they are never caught. In the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth becomes bloodthirsty for the throne of Scotland and killed many people to become the ruler. But during these acts of killing he begins to feel guilty about what he has done. He shows this through ghosts, the motif of blood, and the motif of sleep. In the tragedy William Shakespeare uses Motifs to show that guilt catches the guilty. Macbeth’s guilt catches up to him in many ways throughout the book, one of them is through the motif of blood. In the tragedy it states “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hands (Shakespeare 57).” Macbeth is asking that the blood of Duncan be washed off of his hands even though his hands are clean. In the book it also states “What, will these hands ne’er be clean(Shakespeare 155)?” This is something Lady Macbeth says while she was sleepwalking in the castle. She is talking about how after they killed Duncan and everyone else that the blood never really washed off of

In the tragedy it states “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more! Macbeth shall sleep no more(Shakespeare)!” This is talking about how Macbeth can’t sleep because of all the murders he has committed. He is practically horrified because of all of the things that he has done to become King. He is sicked because he let his greed and ambition get out of hand, all leading up to him not being able to sleep. It also states “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’ -- the innocent sleep(Shakespeare 57). Nobody is really saying these things but since Macbeth just killed people his mind is making him think that someone is saying that. The sleep motif is important because throughout the book his guilt builds up and it gets unbearable for Macbeth and Lady